Georgia Today: School safety; Nutrition programs in danger; Savannahian makes top country album

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Monday, Dec. 18. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, Gov. Kemp announces a big investment in safety funding for Georgia schools. Several nutrition programs across the state are in danger of serious shortfalls as Congress spars over funding. And a Savannah native lands the top spot on Rolling Stone's list of best country albums of the year. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today. 

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Georgia congressman Hank Johnson is asking Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a pending immunity case against former President Donald Trump. In a letter to Thomas, the Democrat says he should not weigh in on whether the former president has immunity for unlawfully subverting the results of the 2020 election because his wife, Ginny Thomas, was allegedly, quote, "intimately involved with the efforts to overturn the results of the election." Johnson says this raises questions about his impartiality. Cosigners of the letter include Democrats Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

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Nutrition

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Some nutrition programs are at risk of funding shortfalls as politicians spar over federal funding. GPB's Sofi Gratas has more on what could happen.

Sofi Gratas: The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants Congress to approve extra money for the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC. Though WIC participation is growing, they say that's come without enough funding. Inaction means people could be turned away for benefits next year, says Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres-Small.

Xochitl Torres-Small : Every month of uncertainty puts states in a position of harder and harder choices. Many states will likely have to impose waiting lists for applicants to reduce costs.

Sofi Gratas: Georgia already has a backlog of people waiting for SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps. SNAP recently came under fire during talks over the farm bill when Georgia Republican Austin Scott called it too expensive and divisive. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Georgia State University is once again reeling from a shooting near campus. One person is dead and another wounded after an argument led to a shooting near the downtown Atlanta campus early Friday morning. Police responded to a call of people shot on Piedmont Avenue between Auburn and John Wesley Dobbs avenues around 1 a.m.. Upon arrival, they found two men with gunshot wounds. Both victims, neither of whom were students, were taken to Grady Hospital, where one succumbed to his injuries. The second victim is in stable condition, according to officials. Police told WSB-TV that the three people were arguing which escalated to gunfire. One man was detained at the scene, but police have not said whether he is a suspect. The identities of the deceased and wounded victims have not been released. This is the third shooting incident at the GSU campus in the last few months. On October 31, a man was shot to death at the Georgia State MARTA station. A few days before, a 19-year-old mother was killed and three others wounded in another shooting incident.

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Delta is extending its suspension of flights between the U.S. and Tel Aviv because of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The Atlanta-based company initially canceled flights to Tel Aviv from Atlanta and Boston in October, but allowed reservations from New York's JFK after Nov. 1. The suspension of flights from Atlanta and Boston remains in effect, and Delta is now canceling its flights to Tel Aviv from New York through late March of 2024. Delta says passengers who booked flights before Oct. 6 can rebook their flights or request a refund. The company says it continues to monitor security guidance and intelligence reports.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport began last week what it's calling its most ambitious project to date: the widening of its narrowest domestic terminal. Concourse D is one of five original concourses and today is considered dramatically undersized. The renovations, beginning this month, will have more seating and larger restrooms. It will also have slightly fewer gates to accommodate larger jets. Parts of the new concourse will be constructed offsite and installed starting next spring. The whole project is expected to wrap up in 2029.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: Gov. Brian Kemp announced today an additional $45,000 in school safety funding for every public school in Georgia. In a statement, Kemp says this additional investment is, quote, "the latest action we're taking to secure our classrooms and back our law enforcement." Kemp had previously authorized two school safety grants totaling $185 million. A round of grants earlier this year equaled $50,000 per school. The money is meant for personnel or infrastructure improvements that strengthen campus security. The governor also announced an employee pay retention bonus of $1,000 to be paid to all state employees, as well as educators and school staff across the state by the end of the year.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: Atlanta's Blank Family Foundation announced $8 million in grants to nonprofit organizations supporting mental health with a particular focus on children. Some of that funding will help organizations based in Atlanta. GPB's Ellen Eldridge has more.

Ellen Eldridge: Half of all mental illnesses begin by age 14, and the need for services in Georgia is increasing. Beth Brown is the Blank Foundation's managing director of mental health and well-being. She says a $1 million grant was awarded to the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta's Georgia Youth Mental Health Funder Collaborative.

Beth Brown: This is a really powerful collective of which will make grants together in support of youth mental health. But we also will learn from each other and hopefully also kind of be able to speak as one voice related to philanthropy and mental health.

Ellen Eldridge: Brown says the Blank Foundation is focused on finding and funding the most effective ways to support mental health policy change and implementation in Georgia. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldridge.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: Car insurance rates in Georgia jumped 22% in the past year. An analysis by MarketWatch says that increase amounts to an average of $356 more for coverage this year. Driving the increase were a rise in the number of car accidents, the high rate of car theft and the increasing cost of repairs. In Georgia, accident rates have gone up significantly in the past several years. Between 2019 and 2021, traffic fatalities per million miles traveled went up more than a third, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That has meant more payouts for insurers, which translates to higher premiums. Georgia's increase in the average premium was higher than in 30 other states.

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Country music, y'all.

Credit: GPB / File

Story 9:

Peter Biello: Savannah-born musician Megan Moroney's debut country album Lucky has been listed as the top country album of 2023 by Rolling Stone. The 26-year-old's debut album features the standard country themes with new, endearing twists. Take, for example, her hit "Tennessee Orange." The lyrics are a difficult conversation for a Georgia-born girl.

MUSIC: Megan Moroney - "Tennesee Orange": In Georgia they call it a sin, and I still want the Dawgs to win. But I'm wearing Tennessee orange for him.

Peter Biello: The album, which launched in May, debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 and in the top 10 on the country chart. Rolling Stone called Lucky, quote, "the most exciting album length debut Nashville has heard in some time."

Story 10:

Peter Biello: In sports, the Braves, Ronald Acuña Jr has won the 2023 Hank Aaron Award in the National League. Major League Baseball presents the award to the most outstanding offensive player in each league. They're picked by fan ballots and a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani won in the American League. Both Acuña and Ohtani were named MVP for their leagues this year as well. In the NBA, the Hawks host the Pistons tonight. Atlanta is coming off a loss Saturday to the Cleveland Cavaliers. And the Falcons lost to the Carolina Panthers, the team with the worst record in the league, by a score of 9 to 7 in front of a nearly empty, rain-drenched stadium in Charlotte.

Peter Biello: And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit our website, GPB.org/news. And to stay on top of Georgia news, the best thing to do is to subscribe to this podcast. We'll be back with the latest in your podcast feed tomorrow. And if you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Send us an email. The address is GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

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For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news